HARD ROAD HOME THE THREE FINISHING HOLES AT SHINNECOCK PROVED TO BE A CLASSIC TEST, ACED BY A FEW AND FLUNKED BY MANY

If the three holes of Augusta National's Amen Corner are therecognized holy trinity of professional golf, a new unholytrinity may have emerged at Shinnecock Hills last week. Asrelentless a test as Shinnecock proved to be, it was the threefinishing holes that defined this national championship.Sixteen, 17 and 18 were the site of so much carnage, so manystirring finishes, blown opportunities, decisive swings andappalling hacks that they seemed part of a links-land dramascripted by Shakespeare but brought to life by QuentinTarantino. After four eventful rounds this trio earned its ownnickname. Call it Aw Man Corner.

"Those holes will make you crazy," said Bill Glasson, who playedthe trio in even par for the week. "They're nasty and they'refun, and that's how it's supposed to be."

"It's like getting hit with a wild flurry of punches right atthe bell," said Bill Murchison, who would certainly know. A boutwith 18 KO'd his tournament hopes.

It's not that the closing holes are necessarily Shinnecock'shardest, they just come at a bad time. Windblown, worn-out andwound too tight, the Open competitors often staggered likedrunken sailors into the finish. Those who regained theirequilibrium in time contended for the trophy. For the rest, thelast three holes were where their chances at victory went todie. Corey Pavin's win will no doubt be remembered for hisheroic four-wood approach to the 72nd hole, but for the week heplayed the finishing holes in one under. Important? "Huge,"Pavin said Sunday night. Yes, it was. Had Phil Mickelson playedthose holes at even par, he would have won the Open by fourstrokes. Instead he finished in a six-way tie for fourth, fouroff the pace. On Sunday, Tom Lehman's tournament chances endedwith an unsightly double bogey on the 16th. He finished third."Down the stretch," said Lehman afterward, "you're nervous, thewind is blowing, and all you're hoping to do is survive. Notmany did."

The two nines at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club are actuallyreversed for the U.S. Open, meaning the 18th hole last week iswhat the members play as the 9th hole. The flip-flop is donebecause the club's number 18 has no room for grandstands and isless telegenic than the adjacent 9th. The change also creates astouter road home.

The 16th is a sinuous par-5 of 544 yards, with a green frontedby a rash of bunkers and, on the left, a meadow of fescue. Itwas the decisive hole at the '86 Open, the place where Ray Floydleft the rest of the field behind with a 10-foot birdie putt.This year it played straight into the wind the final threerounds, making it a tricky three shots to the green. Still, mostplayers considered 16 a good birdie opportunity -- exceptingthose times when they were making bogey.

Because 16 is one of only two par-5s at Shinnecock, "you feellike you are losing ground if you don't come away with abirdie," said Jeff Maggert. Never mind that the wind and therough add about another 100 yards in distance. The hole also hassome of the riskiest pin placements at the Open, which is whatnabbed Mickelson. "I haven't played the approach at 16 verysmart," he said after a third-round bogey. "I should just shootfor the middle, but I keep thinking that the hole owes me, so Igo for the birdie." He finished the week six over on 16.

The par-3 17th has added a new tee box since the '86 Open,growing 17 yards to 186. The new tee also creates a more extremeapproach angle, as players now have to carry three bunkers yetstop the ball on a shallow green.

Like 16, the 17th also suckers players into mistakes. All thetrouble at 17 is on the left side, so naturally that is wherethe pin was placed three of the four days. Play it safe to theright, and you're left with a downhill 30-footer. Go pin-seekingand you have to contend with the sand. "How hard is getting atthe pin on 17?" asked Glasson. "Way too hard."

Eighteen is a brute, a fishhook-shaped par-4 of 450 yards, alluphill. The green is one of Shinnecock's most severe, pitchingsteeply from back to front. It's a little like putting in abathtub and trying to stop the ball before it gets to the drain."Leaving yourself a downhill putt on that green is the ultimatesin," Glasson said. "That is one of the toughest putts I've everseen." Just as it was in 1986, 18 was statistically the hardesthole on the course, costing an average of 4.5 strokes.

If there was any question as to what kind of anguish these holescould produce, Paul Azinger answered it during the first round.After struggling his way to a bogey on 16 and a par on 17, heuncorked a duck hook deep into the weeds on the 18th. Thusshafted, Zinger snapped the offending graphite pole over hisknee and marched down the fairway, with half his driver in eachhand. He made a 6 and ultimately missed the cut.

The closing holes did see some rousing golf in the opening tworounds. They were at the heart of Nick Price's smokin' 66 onThursday. Two under after 15 holes, Price got up-and-down fromthe greenside rough for a birdie on 16, then on the 17th rolledin a gorgeous 25-footer for another bird. Price had a chance totie the course record with a downhill four-foot birdie putt on18, but his ball trickled by the cup. That he kept a stiff upperlip may have been a sign of submission.

The stretch run was just as important during the second round.Price had given away four strokes to par when he arrived at 16,leaving him even for the tournament. But he played the hole intextbook fashion, rapping in an eight-foot birdie putt to getback in red numbers and then parring the final two holes to staythere. Friday evening he looked back at the significance of theclosing holes. "If I'm in contention on the weekend, one of thebiggest factors will be how I've finished off my rounds sofar," he said. "It's been a saving grace."

Jumbo Ozaki's surge up the leader board on Friday was punctuatedby a 20-foot birdie putt on 18 and the little jig he did tocelebrate it. Greg Norman surged to the lead of the Open onFriday with a 67, including a velvety chip-in from the fringefor a bird on 18. "A strong finish gives your entire game acharge," Norman said.

A number of contenders who would ultimately fall just shortsabotaged their chances with weak finishes in the openingrounds. Mickelson was leading the tournament on Thursday at fiveunder when he came to the 16th. He promptly smacked an errantdrive, chopped his way in and out of the rough on both sides ofthe fairway, hit an indifferent approach and then three-jackedfor a double-bogey 7. Waiting on the 17th tee, Mickelson satdejectedly on his bag before getting up to hit a poor iron shotpast the green. He then left a hairy chip 15 feet short,resulting in a bogey. "This course is brutal," he said. "It'svery draining, especially mentally. If you let up just theslightest bit at the end of the round, it costs you dearly."

When Saturday turned into a last-one-standing-wins,bare-knuckles brawl, it was inevitable that the closing holeswould get in a few knockout blows -- even on a bunch of wilyveterans. Floyd, Fuzzy Zoeller and Tom Kite were a combined nineover par there while finishing miserable rounds that took themout of contention. Ozaki, who a day earlier was doing thatlittle victory dance on 18, crashed and burned down the stretch,finishing 7, 4, 5 to shoot an 80 and expunge his namepermanently from the leader board.

But if there was any one figure who captured the true essence ofthe cruelty of the finish at Shinnecock it was Murchison. He isone of pro golf's most intriguing characters, a deeply religiousman who supports his wife and eight children by grinding it outon the Nike Tour. He had gotten into the field with a gutsyperformance at sectional qualifying. And he spent a good part ofthe first round atop the leader board, dipping as low as twounder par, and winning over the gallery with fine play and thepresence of his Punky Brewster-like, 14-year-old daughter,Jennifer, who was carrying his bag. Murchison arrived at the18th two strokes above par and looking for a birdie to close outa stellar round.

His troubles began when he drove his ball through the dogleginto the right rough. Hell-bent on going for the green,Murchison shanked a five-iron dead right into the weeds. Fromthere he produced one of the most memorable shots of thetournament. He took a mighty cut with a midiron and nearlywhiffed, digging under the ball and popping it straight up inthe air some six inches before it settled into his freshlyexcavated divot. "I was shocked, in a state of total disbelief,"Murchison says. With the stunned look of a deer caught in theheadlights, he reloaded and duffed his fourth shot forward about25 yards. Finally he landed an approach on the back of the greenand three-putted for the frostiest of snowmen and a final scoreof 76. Murchison may be a devoted family man, but surely hedidn't have to take a stroke for each kid.

At the 18th on Friday, Murchison nearly holed a 50-footer forbirdie before tapping in his last Open stroke. As he walked offthe green, with a 153 that missed the cut by seven shots, hehanded his ball to a young woman sitting in a wheelchair, an actof a suitably humbled man. Moments later he was asked if therewas any satisfaction in parring the 18th. "None whatsoever," hesaid. "The only satisfaction is knowing I don't have to playthese holes again for a long time."

The rest of the competitors at this year's National Open wouldsurely have something to say to that.

Amen.

COLOR PHOTO:JACQUELINE DUVOISIN Home was clearly in view, but the welcome mat was not out at 17, as Norman and others discovered. [Greg Norman golfing with the Shinnecock Hills club house in the background]COLOR PHOTO:JACQUELINE DUVOISIN Mickelson's miseries at 16 (below) cost him the Open and left him a little down at the mouth. [Phil Mickelson hitting ball out of rough grass]COLOR PHOTO:JOHN BIEVER [see caption above--Phil Mickelson seated on his golf bag]COLOR PHOTO:JOHN BIEVER Eduardo Romero was one of the few happy finishers on 18 after he chipped in for a par on Friday. [Eduardo Romero celebrating with onlookers]